Emiliana Torrini

Emiliana Torrini’s third U.S. album, the nearly perfect Me and Armini, is her best. It’s so good, in fact, that it deserves that mention right up front. Torrini has forever swayed in the background, wrapping her delicate tones around tracks by Thievery Corporation and Gus Gus. Even her previous efforts as a solo artist, 1999’s Love in the Time of Science and 2005’s Fisherman’s Woman, kept her mildly faded, reduced to coffee shop wallpaper. Me and Armini changes the game. It’s at once a varied and cohesive homerun of a record. And if this doesn’t get her some mainstream stateside attention, what will?

Like Feist’s sublime The Reminder, Me and Armini runs a gamut of emotions within its melodies and compositions. Gorgeous, twinkling ballads like “Birds” and “Bleeder” showcase a voice for breaking hearts. The title track, “Big Jumps”, and “Heard It All Before” up the tempo in a sunny, radio-ready way, while “Gun” skillfully represents a harder, edgier Torrini, one not really seen since her debut. Her voice melts (or cuts) into all of these instances, flavoring each like a shot of cream in a mug of morning coffee. The whole thing feels damn organic, original and, while seemingly produced to a T, personal. It’s refreshing the entire way through, whether on the sixth or twentieth listen. So, listen up. With this collection, Emiliana Torrini seems to be just an Apple commercial (“Jungle Drum” should be an iPhone ad) from total public consciousness. Rightfully so: Me and Armini is one of the best albums of 2008.

—Matthew Allard
09.11.08

Emiliana Torrini reprises her relationship with producer/songwriter Dan Carney on Me and Armini, which mixes fingerplucked folk with elements of jazz, dancehall, electronica, and summery pop. Splitting the difference between the intimate acoustics of 2005's Fisherman's Woman and the trip-hop experiments on Love in the Time of Science, Me and Armini finds room for Torrini to flex all of her muscles. She's a sultry mistress on "Gun," peppering the verses with blasts of hot breath cloaked in echo. It's a surprisingly sexy performance -- almost feline, not unlike something by the Kills -- with a muted guitar riff that threatens to explode into noisy catharsis but stubbornly keeps its composure. Elsewhere, Torrini tones down the heat in favor of winsome innocence, mimicking a percussive instrument on "Jungle Drum" and filling "Big Jumps" with strings of endearing doop-de-doop vocals and a commercial pop chorus. Several songs also cement her musical connection to Björk -- an easy link to make, perhaps, given the women's shared Icelandic heritage, but a factual one nevertheless -- and tunes like "Birds" and "Heard It All Before" show that both singers employ similar vocal ticks. Elsewhere, Torrini's material evokes the jazzy cadence of Inara George or even the reggae-tinged swagger of Lily Allen, particularly on the album's breezy title track. Yet comparisons to other artists don't quite do Emiliana Torrini justice, as she's carved out her own sonic space over the course of several albums. With its wide array of genres -- all executed with earnestness and confidence -- Me and Armini emerges as an album suitable for bookworms and beach bunnies, homebodies and world travelers, dancers and wallflowers. Highly recommended. ~ Andrew Leahey, All Music Guide